Five first impressions of the Star Wars: X-wing Miniatures Game by FFG

The Star Wars: X-wing Miniatures Game from Fantasy Flight Games came out recently and my copy arrived in the mail late last week. I immediately coerced my wife into giving it a go and have some first impressions to share, since I haven’t gotten to play enough to get you a full-formed review of the Star Wars: X-wing Miniatures Game. So, to tide you over for my full review (which I am sure you are awaiting with bated breath), here are my first impressions of the Star Wars: X-wing Miniatures Game:

1. Maybe it was because it was the first time playing, but the game took much longer than we expected – Mind you, we both still had a bunch of fun playing the Star Wars: X-wing Miniatures Game, but it took us somewhere near an hour after we went over the rules to knock out a basic game with Luke Skywalker versus two TIE Fighters. I’m sure this will improve with time, but I felt like our turns were going quickly enough, it was just some bad dice rolling (and some good defensive rolling) pulled the game into longer territory.

2. This is a very pretty game – I’m sure you would expect it given Fantasy Flight Games’ previous offerings, but the Star Wars: X-wing Miniatures Game is a really nice looking game. The miniatures are very nice looking, especially at table-distance (how you would normally see them), the graphic design seemed easy to follow, and I didn’t have any of the trouble with the D-shaped stands others have had.

3. I’m not sure I could wholly recommend it if you are already heavily bought into Wings of War – I only have the first set of Wings of War (which I am actually very fond of, but my wife doesn’t care for the theme and I think the miniatures are more intuitive than the cards, which I know has been well-since corrected in Wings of Wars), but – while there are some rules differences, I think that the overall theme of the games is similar enough that I would be hard-justified to have both of them full-bought-into on my shelf. Your mileage may vary, of course, but I would just say buy the one which has the better theme for you. For me, that’s the Star Wars: X-wing Miniatures Game.

4. It’s really a very easy game – We were playing on a small table (3′ x 3′, as recommended), so we had some issues juggling the various rulers (there are a bunch of them), but the game plays very quickly, and my wife and I both had it down after about two turns. From there, we played very, very fast. I had some concerns that the little dials (which are much smaller than I expected them to be) would be hard to turn, but I had no real trouble with them despite my misgivings. My wife, playing the X-wing, had some trouble dealing with the two TIE Fighters, but it’s a more powerful ship, so it all seems to balance out. Still, if the X-wing loses shields early, it’s going to be in serious trouble against the TIEs.

5. There is enough variety in the box to make it worthwhile – Probably the biggest sticking point a lot of people have had regarding the Star Wars: X-wing Miniatures Game is that the game only comes with three ships (one X-wing, two TIE Fighters). Still, while the ships determine the dial, the pilots determine the ships stats and you get several pilots with the core set, as well as some add-ons (a couple of R2 units, proton torpedoes) that you can use to boost your ships up (I would recommend it, actually, so long as you can balance points, since it will probably end up with a more lethal game next time we play). About my only gripe is that it didn’t come with as many ship upgrades as I would have liked, but there’s enough to stay entertained, for me.

So, as of right now, I am very pleased with the Star Wars: X-wing Miniatures Game. We’ll see how it holds up after we try a few different plays, but I really expect that I’ll be playing this one for a while. It’s got a nice, streamlined rule set and a theme that really appeals to me, as well as a nice design that makes it more approachable for people that might not otherwise be interested. You can get more information over on the official Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars: X-wing Miniatures Game web page.e, such as it is, is that I would have liked to have seen some more add-ons with the base game, but it’s a pretty minor thing overall. I may buy some additional ships, but I don’t see me getting tired of playing the core set any time soon.

About Michael

Michael is an enthusiast about a lot of things, including indie games, roleplaying games, board games, and comic books that wanted to help create a place where he could bring things to the attention of those with similar interests. Futile Position is a true labor of labor, which he hopes continues to grow through the support of the great readers who have come upon this page.